Critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin accuse him of eroding some of the
last decade's major democratic gains, but they praise Putin in one key area of
reform: farmland privatization.

Moscow, 14 February 2003 (RFE/RL) -- A cow moos over the drone of mechanical
milking machines at the Kommunarka dairy. The farm stands near tall, snow-swept
pine forests and summer-cottage plots just south of the capital Moscow.

The Kommunarka enterprise, with more than 2,500 cows, is a relative success
story amid tales of decay in Russia's stricken agriculture sector. It sells half
its 41-ton daily output to Belgian dairy-product company Danone.

But deputy director Vasilii Voichik said the future of the dairy is
uncertain. The government has so far failed to push ahead with key reforms.
"We don't see any [progress] yet. There are only discussions, because
there's no help from the agriculture administration, just promises and
assurances, but no help," Voichik said.

Some hope that may soon change. This year, Russia is embarking on a series of
unprecedented reforms that will allow for the privatization of agricultural
land. The historic step may prove to be one of the most significant legacies of
Vladimir Putin's administration.

The law took effect in January after being passed by the Duma last June. It
allows the sale of farmland for the first time since the tsarist era.

Duma Deputy Viktor Pokhmelkin is co-head of the Liberal Russia party. He said
the Land Code's main achievement is guaranteeing private farmland ownership.
"Before its passage, everything was basically regulated by presidential
decrees and old Soviet-era land legislation. That's why there were huge gaps and
loopholes for bureaucrats to abuse power. On the other hand, there wasn't a firm
guarantee of private land ownership or a legal basis for production from that
land. That's all been done now," Pokhmelkin said.

But Pokhmelkin criticized the Land Code for not being liberal enough. He said
that it allows room for meddling by officials and might encourage corruption, in
part because it sets out the rights of authorities more clearly than those of
landowners.

Russia has about 221 million hectares of farmland, almost a quarter of the
country's land mass. Agriculture Minister Aleksei Gordeev has estimated the
country's farmland to be worth $80 trillion to $100 trillion, about a third of
Russia's net worth.

Most of that land is now controlled by Soviet-era collective farms:
inefficient, debt-laden behemoths struggling to survive. Many are reportedly
plundered by their managers, who are often holdovers from communism with
reputations for running their farms with iron fists.

Collective-farm directors generally oppose land reform and have tried to keep
their enterprises intact. Raisa Fedorova, director of Dubrovitsa, a former
collective farm in the town of Podolsk, near Moscow, said she will do everything
possible to preserve the enterprise. "We're not going to allow a bazaar
here," she said.

Such directors have backed a powerful antireform lobby that includes regional
authorities who stand to lose de facto control over land. The Communist Party
has also protested privatization bitterly, saying criminal groups and foreigners
would snap up agricultural land and squeeze out the country's farmers.

But supporters of reform say failure to privatize farmland in the 1990s put
the brakes on development and encouraged massive corruption.

In theory, 137 million hectares have already been privatized according to the
country's 1993 constitution and additional presidential decrees calling for
farmland privatization. Around 12 million Russians are said to own land, much of
which consists of small plots allocated to collective-farm workers.

But few landowners understand their legal rights. In many cases, regional and
local officials have been able to keep land in the hands of collective-farm
managers and other cronies.

Vladimir Kuchin lives in the Serpukhov region about 100 kilometers south of
Moscow. He said regional authorities and managers at the Zaoksk collective farm,
where he worked as an economist, have cheated him out of his land.

Kuchin currently works for the private Vesna farm, which grows cabbage and
other vegetables on Zaoksk farmland that it leases. Vesna is unusual in that it
is waging a legal battle to formally take over its land. Kuchin accuses Zaoksk's
director of cheating former employees. "According to a presidential decree,
the land belongs to us, but [the director] wrote a letter to the head of the
region and went to Moscow. [The] Serpukhov [regional authorities] are more
cunning in the registration chamber [than we are]. [The director] registered the
land in Moscow, and he was given the rights, illegally, we believe. That's why
we're suing in court," Kuchin said.

The Zaoksk management, for its part, said that dividing the land would make
it unattractive to potential investors, such as oil giant LUKoil, which is said
to be interested in buying the land. Like most Soviet-era collective farms,
Zaoksk needs massive investment to replace rusting machinery and rebuild decayed
infrastructure.

Duma Deputy Pokhmelkin said that in most such cases, courts have decided in
favor of authorities and not private citizens.

Nikolai Dyazhur heads an organization that defends the claims of more than
2,000 would-be small landholders in the Serpukhov region. He said the Land Code
might help lay the groundwork for real change. "On the one hand, the
document is generally necessary and beneficial in many ways. On the other hand,
of course, the document is very dense, and it will be hard to work with it to
effectively realize our rights. But we have to set out our rights in court,
first of all," Dyazhur said.

Dyazhur said battling for ownership is only the first step. Another major
obstacle to development is lack of investment.

One of the major points of the new law is that foreigners are not allowed to
buy farmland, a concession to local officials and populist parties like the
Communists and the Agrarians. Foreigners are, however, allowed to hold 49-year
land leases.

The law also says agricultural land may be used only for farming. It leaves
the actual privatization process to the country's regions, including timing and
sale procedures.

Agriculture Minister Gordeev told reporters last month that the work has only
just begun. "The work is not simple. It's moving forward. A number of
regions have already passed such legislative bills. I think it's important that
we have created a unified legal space within the country. As of today, we have
strengthened the rights and responsibilities of all property owners, users, and
managers of land plots," Gordeev said.

Pokhmelkin said land reform is only a first step and that other major
changes, like the development of an independent legal system, are needed.

The behavior of authorities, he concluded, still makes investment in
agriculture a risky business.